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THESIS

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This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

An Investigation of the Depiction
of the American Mountaineer Character
in Selected American Plays

presented by

David Jonathan Jortner

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

M. A. degree in Theatre

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AN INVESTIGATION OF THE. DEPICTION
OF THE AMERICAN MOUNTAIN EER CHARACTER
IN SELECTED AMERICAN PLAYS

By

David Jonathan Jortner

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of Theatre

1995

ABSTRACT

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE DEPICTION
OF THE AMERICAN MOUNTAINEER CHARACTER
IN SELECTED AMERICAN PLAYS

By

David Jonathan Jortner

This study explores how the character of the mountaineer is
portrayed in select American dramatic literature. The mountaineer,
with his rich history and legacy of adventure, appears to be an
excellent dramatic character. This study will contrast the archetypal
traditional mountaineer with the mountaineer as seen on-stage, and

examine the accuracy with which this character has been represented.

Copyright by
DAVID JONATHAN JORTNER
1995

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis would not have been possible without the aid and
assistance of many people. Frank Rutledge has been an incredible help,
as have Dr. Dixie Durr and Gretel Geist. Hal Widlansky has been more
than generous with his time and aid. Special thanks are also extended
to Michael Hirsch and Tim Tait, who have put up with me for the past
year. Finally, this thesis would not have been possible without the

continued support of my friends and family. Thank you all very much.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction and Background .................................................... 1

Chapter 2: A Historical Overview of

the Appalachians and the

Character of the Mountaineer ........................................................................ 10
Chapter 3: Analysis of Dramatic Literature ............................................. 39
Chapter 4: Conclusions ....................................................................................... 83
Bibliography ........................................................................................................... 92

Chapter 1:

Introduction and Background

A. Introduction

I grew up in Blacksburg, Virginia, in the heart of the Blue Ridge
Mountains. My house was located on a small hill in Ellet Valley, about
seven miles from the town limits of Blacksburg. Enclosing the valley,
and visible from my bedroom window, were both Parris and Black
Mountains. Through the gaps in the mountains other ridges, hills, and
valleys could be easily seen. I spent many years exploring and playing
around these hills, fishing and swimming in small mountain streams
and hiking through the woodlands and forests of the area. As I grew
older, Blacksburg and Ellet Valley became my home, and I now think of
myself as a resident of that region.

However, neither myself nor my family has any real historical
connection to the Appalachians. Although I am "from" the region, I will
always be separated from the true mountaineers by two factors.
Firstly, I am originally from suburban New Jersey, and lived there until
I was ten years old. My father moved to Blacksburg, as did many other
families, to teach at Virginia Tech. I had moved from a suburb of New

York City to a rural Appalachian town, and still retain mannerisms and

2
habits of the northeast that directly conflict with those of the native

mountaineer. Secondly, my family is Jewish. We were one of
approximately forty Jewish families in Blacksburg, and very few things
could have placed us more on the outside.

However, these factors did not preclude us from getting to know our
neighbors, and making friends with many other residents. Despite the
differences in background and income, all of the residents of
Blacksburg get along and work together. As a child, my friends
stretched across socioeconomic boundaries, and my high school had
advanced placement courses for the sons and daughters of professors,
as well as a vocational wing for the children of the mountains.
Although most of my friends in high school all had backgrounds similar
to mine, I still felt an affinity towards the people of the mountains.
When I returned to the northeast to attend college, I was struck at the
popular misconception of the entire region and its people. I then
realized that I held many of these misconceptions myself. In high
school my friends and l were contemptuous of mountain people.
However, as my pride in my state and town grew, so did my concern
for its oldest residents.

As I became more involved with theater, I started to look for
representations of the mountaineer onstage. I believed that the

mountaineer was an inherently dramatic character. He was fiercely

3
independent, yet had declined into a state of almost total dependency,

he had close family ties yet rarely expressed that closeness, and he had
become a part of the American mythological canon due to the exploits
of men such as Daniel Boone and the Hatfields and McCoys. Yet
surprisingly, there was very little dramatic literature with the
mountaineer as a strong central character. The common perception of
the mountaineer seemed to be locked into the "Jed Clampett/Snuffy
Smith" stereotype, and few authors placed these characters at the
center of their work. However, some playwrights, such as William
Richardson, William Berney and Romulus Linney created plays with
strong mountaineer characters at their core. Often, these playwrights
borrowed the plots of their plays from the stories, ballads and myths of
the region. All of these authors wrote after 1945, when the
Appalachians began to be "rediscovered" by the nation. However, it is
within the past fifteen years that the archetypal mountaineer has

become a viable dramatic character.

B. Purpose of Study

This study examines how the character of the mountaineer is
represented in contemporary American dramatic literature. This study
will use archetypal mountaineer characteristics as determining factors
in establishing accuracy of dramatic depiction. These characteristics
will be determined through previous sociological studies done of
mountaineer society. These include yesterday's People by Jack Weller
and MW by Harry Caudill. Both of these
works provide comprehensive overviews of the mountaineer's
character and provide definitive characteristics for this study.

The mountaineers, with their rich history and legacy of adventure,
appear to be ideal dramatic characters. A clear American icon, with
three hundred years of history and a strong sense of independence, the
mountaineer seems ideally suited to be a major heroic character in
American dramatic literature. This study will examine how the
mountaineer has been represented as a dramatic character and

whether or not this representation has been accurate.

C. Organization of Study

This study is organized into four chapters, each focusing on a
different aspect of either the history and life of mountaineer or the
representation of this character on stage. The first chapter introduces,
delimits, and defines the terms of the study. The second chapter gives
the history of the mountains and the mountain people as well as define
the mountaineer. The third chapter of the study explores the
representation of the archetypal mountaineer character in selected
American plays. The final chapter of the study examines the

conclusions reached and provide concepts and ideas for further study.

D. Limitations

This study will focus on the role and portrayal of the mountaineer
in select American dramatic literature in the latter half of the twentieth
century. Central to the study will be the mountaineer of the Southern
Appalachian mountains and not the hunter/ trapper "mountain man" of
the Rockies. and the Southwest. Plays selected for the study are those
that are set in the geographical region and have a mountaineer
character as a primary focus. The investigation will not examine music,
stories, folklore, or poetry about that region. In addition, films and

novels set in the region are not covered in this study.

E. Definitions and Terms

The Appalachian Mountains are some of the oldest mountains in the
world. They stretch from the Catskill mountains of Southern New York
through the hill country of Alabama and Georgia (Ergood, and Kuhre,
Appalachia._Setiel_Centext_P_ast_and_BLeeent 6). However. the
mountains are culturally divided between the North and the South.
The common dividing line is the Mason-Dixon line north of Maryland
(Campbell, Appalachia: Social Cpptext Best and Present 15).

This is also true for the purposes of this study. The Southern
Appalachian mountains are defined as "the four western counties of
Maryland; the Blue Ridge, Valley and Ridge counties of Virginia; all of
West Virginia; eastern Tennessee; eastern Kentucky; western North
Carolina; the four northwestern counties of South Carolina; northern
Georgia; and northeastern Alabama" (Campbell flfhe Sopthem Highlands
and the Sppthem Highlander mfined 15). This definition incorporates
both those states that fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War as
well as those states that remained neutral (Maryland and Kentucky).
The common denominators linking these states together are the
patterns of settlement and the pace and nature of economic and social

development. These factors combined to create the unique culture and

8
character of the Southern Appalachian mountaineer.

A mountaineer is defined by W as
"A native or inhabitant of a mountainous area" (American Heritage
metienary 817-818). However, for the purposes of this study, a
mountaineer is defined as an individual of primarily European descent
whose family has settled the Southern Appalachian mountains, and
who currently resides in that area. This mountaineer has specific
characteristics, detailed by sociologists, which have resulted from the
way he and his family have lived. These elements, as well as
geographical residence and family history, have defined the character
of the mountaineer.

Plays selected for this study have two distinguishing features. They
are set in the geographical region mentioned above and they have a
mountain man or woman as a main character. In addition, all of the
plays examined were written after 1945. After the social upheavals
caused by the Great Depression and the Second World War, the plight
and situation of the mountain people became much better known to the
rest of the country. In the 19603 Lyndon Johnson once again focused
the attention of the nation on the Southern Appalachians (Weller 23).
As a result of this increased exposure, many of the cultural myths and
beliefs about mountain people were examined by many Americans.

Several playwrights began to explore the region for possible dramatic

9
material. They attempted to portray the mountaineer and his society

accurately on-stage. In addition, because of increased social interaction
in the past fifty years, the Appalachians have begun to lose their sense

of individualism and unique identity.

The plays chosen for this study include Wu, by
William Richardson and William Berney, Tennessee, SeniMpnnfln

W and Why the Lend Come tp Sand Mountain by Romulus
Linney, and The Kentucky Cycle, by Robert Schenkkan. Derkpfihe
an was selected because it is one of the most popular American
plays set in the Southern Appalachian mountains and has several
mountaineer characters in primary roles. Romulus Linney's plays were
chosen because Linney has been one of the most prolific American
playwrights to feature mountaineer characters. T e e tuck le
was selected because of it's epic nature and scope. Also, it won the

1992 Pulitzer Prize for dramatic literature.

Chapter 2
A Historical Overview of the Appalachians

and the Character of the Mountaineer

A. Use of Weller and Caudill

The character of the mountaineer has been studied thoroughly by
many different sociologists since 1945. Two of the most comprehensive
observations of the history and the character of the mountain man
come from Harry Caudill's Night Comes to the Cuinbeziands and Jack
Weller's Yestenciay's Pepple. Both works vividly describe the
mountaineer, his culture, and his history. Caudill's work takes a
historical approach to the subject, tracing the changes in the
mountaineer character as he responds to various social upheavals.
Caudill uses quotations and excerpts to support its contentions. One of
Caudill's conclusions is that the mountaineer character has remained
fairly constant with its pioneer ancestors. In contrast, Weller's work
codifies and clarifies common mountaineer characteristics in
sociological terms. These terms provide a clear definition of the

mountaineer character, and can be used as a basis for determining the

10

1 1
accuracy of dramatic depiction of this character on the stage.

Jack Weller has lived in the Appalachians for most of his life and
worked with the people of that region for many years as a pastor and
sociologist. Harry Caudill is one of the primary Appalachian historians

in America and a native of eastern Kentucky.

B. Historical Overview of the Appalachians

The first inhabitants of the Appalachian mountains were the Native
American Choctaw, Shawnee and Cherokee tribes (Caudill 13).
However,as the American colonies began to grow, the settlers and
colonists pushed westward from the Atlantic coast into the interior of
the nation. They soon discovered the Appalachians, which proved to be
the first geographical barrier to the pioneer's expansion. The
mountains were impassable in some places, and contained many
natural dead ends and cul-de-sacs. However, through careful
exploration various mountain passes were discovered and the terrain
began to be colonized.

The people who colonized the Southern colonies were generally
divided into two classes. There was the rich, planter upper class which
controlled the plantations as well as much of the colonies' political and
social life. The second class were the lower class immigrants brought
over to the colonies for use as laborers. They were debtors, petty
thieves or prostitutes, or street people who were kidnapped and
thrown on boats headed for the new world. Generally this class became

indentured laborers for the plantations and were treated little better

12

13
than slaves. They worked for seven years on the plantations and were

then released by the plantation owners (Caudill 5). With no land
available along the coast and no employment prospects beyond that of
continued indentured servitude, the lower class colonists moved west
into the mountains of Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and the Carolinas.
Joining them in this westward migration were the second and third
sons of the upper class, who also sought new opportunities. Harry
Caudill, in Night Comes to the Cninbetlands, his history of the
Cumberland Plateau, describes the early mountaineer, saying "...the
people who settled the Kentucky mountains were not inspired
Europeans...determined to found a citadel of religious and economic
freedom...He had simply moved over a few hundred miles to find
unplowed creek bottoms, a more plentiful supply of game, and to get
away from his neighbors" (Caudill 10).

These individuals found that the land was plentiful and fertile,
especially along the valleys and river banks. In addition, game and
timber abounded on the mountainsides. Expansion into the
Appalachians really increased with the opening of the Cumberland gap
by Daniel Boone. This valley, which was easily passable both on foot
and in wagons, opened up Kentucky and most of the Southwestern
Appalachians. Although there were several skirmishes and fights with

Native Americans, for the most part both the mountain settlers and

14
their Native American counterpart co-existed. There was a great deal

of intermingling and intermarriage, and the mountaineers often traded
with the natives. In return, the natives showed the settlers the best
plants for medicines and the best areas to hunt game. However, after
the American War of Independence the newly created Congress
granted many parcels of mountain land to veterans whose pay had
been either delayed or denied (Caudill 9). The influx of these men, as
well as the continuing stream of poor sharecroppers trying to start new
in the mountains proved too much for the native population. Their
population was decimated through a combination of disease and open
warfare. Finally, through a concentrated effort, the federal government
moved the native tribes west into reservations.

While this was occurring, the mountaineer was gaining his
reputation for independence and individualism. The mountains he had
settled made social interaction problematic because of the difficulty of
travel. Although small towns developed along major trade routes, the
mountaineer was still very much left to his own devices. His land was
worked by members of his own family, and it was common to see a
valley or ridge dominated by a single surname (Weller 13). Because of
this extreme isolationism, mountain people developed a strong distrust
of strangers and a fear of intrusion by either other settlers or

government agents. Therefore, when a mountaineer was seeking to

15
arrange a marriage for his son or daughter, he often turned to relatives

nearby. The practice of intermarriage became common, as that allowed
the mountain clan to maintain control of the land.

In addition, such isolationism also fostered a strange mix of beliefs.
The mountaineers were almost always exclusively Christian, yet his
interaction with the Native Americans had left him with several
superstitions and myths. The interaction that the sharecroppers had
had with Africans on the plantations augmented these superstitions
(Caudill 26). Although some communities had a church and full time
minister, many did not. Travelling ministers taught the Biblical
principles through repetition and preached hellfire and damnation to
try to illustrate Christian ethics. There were a few families with copies
of the Bible, yet few mountain families knew how to read. Thus, the
Christianity that was practiced by these men and women was a mix of
African and Native American beliefs along with whatever biblical
stories they could remember. Many of the mountain ridges and passes
were said to be inhabited by "haints" or ghosts, and were to be avoided
on certain nights. In certain parts of Appalachia these beliefs and
superstitions continue to exist.

It was also during this time between the revolution and the Civil
War that many of the legendary family feuds broke out in the

mountains. These could be precipitated by almost anything: a dispute

16
over land, a failed marriage, or even a suspected slight in manners.

The epic Hatfield—McCoy war, the most famous of these feuds, began in
1882 when the Hatfields of West Virginia crossed the state border to
vote in Kentucky elections (Caudill 47). The McCoys, angered by this
practice, killed Ellison Hatfield outside of a voting precinct (Caudill 47).
What followed was years of slaughter in which at least 65 people died
(Caudill 47). Feuds ranged throughout the Southern Appalachians and
often lasted entire generations. The government was incapable of
stopping these battles, and was sometimes drawn into the bloody
conflict. Caudill writes "...at Hillsville Virginia...feudists in the "Allen--
Edwards Wars"...entered the circuit courtroom and shot to death the
circuit judge, commonwealth attorney, sheriff and three of the judges"
(Caudill 49). These feuds became as much a part of the mountain
landscape as the ridges and valleys themselves.

Just as the Civil War split the nation, it also divided the Southern
Appalachians. The majority of the mountain states broke away from
the Union. Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia and the Carolinas were all
supporters of the Confederacy, and fought against the United States.
The state legislature of Kentucky voted the state neutral, while the
people of West Virginia broke away from Virginia and formed their
state in support of the Union. The mountain states all managed to

contribute men and supplies to their chosen sides during the war, and

17
this forced the mountaineer to become both militarily and politically

active.

However, many of the mountain people were able to remain isolated
in their mountain strongholds, and the war had no effect on them at all
(Caudill 38). Yet there were strong supporters of both the Confederacy
and the Union in the mountains. Many mountaineers resented the
interference of the federal government. They were often encouraged
by those few landowners who had enough land and money to own
slaves. One of the most famous quotes from this camp was "If they can
take our niggers away from us they can take our cows and hosses, and
everything else we've got" (Caudill 38). These mountaineers
"...resented the idea that property earned by hard toil—even when that
property consisted of fellow human beings-should be wrested from
the owner" (Caudill 38). The Union sympathizers were compelled by a
sense of loyalty to the government which had allowed them their
freedom. In addition, many were resentful of the wealthier slave
owners, and wanted to see them defeated. Finally, the mountaineer
who fought for the Union often firmly believed that slavery was wrong
and that no man should be owned by another.

On the battlefield, the mountaineers were wonderful soldiers. After
all, they had spent their entire lifetime sneaking around the mountains

in search of game. As a result, many were expert scouts, marksmen

18
and calvary troops. However, in camp, the mountain soldier seemed

loath to take orders and was often intractable and unmanageable. They
would often desert if pay was not received on time, or if rations wore
too thin. Once a mountaineer decided to leave for home, there was
little that either army could do to make him stay (Caudill 39). Many
returned home for planting season or to see loved ones again. For the
mountaineer, personal necessites took precedence over a war which, in
all likelihood, would not affect him despite its outcome.

After the Civil War, life in the Appalachians returned to what it had
been before the war. Yet in the latter half of the nineteenth century,
many investors in the east became interested in the region because of
its natural resources (Caudill 61). The Southern Appalachians had vast
stretches of virgin old growth forests that had been untouched for
centuries. The lumber companies were quick to buy up these stretches
of land from the mountain people. Many mountain families were
unwilling to sell their land, yet sold the logging rights for mere pennies.
They were unaware of the market price for lumber and to them, the
trees were a nuisance that had to be cleared away in order to make
land arable for subsistence farming. In other occasions, there was no
complete documentation of land ownership with the county, so the
lumber companies bought the land outright. In these cases mountain

families were suddenly pushed off their land or forced to pay rent on

19
land they had farmed for generations. While several individuals were

employed as lumbermen, the pay was low and the danger high. Yet
perhaps the greatest damage done by lumbering was the loss of topsoil.
When all the trees were taken from a particular hillside, the spring and
summer rains would wash the rich topsoil into the rivers and away
from the mountain farmland (Salstrom 26). Without this invaluable
natural resource, crop yields fell dramatically. The mountaineer could
no longer rely on the family farm to produce a profit, and in some
extreme cases, he could no longer feed his family (Weller 18). In order
to gain better farmland he would clear a neighboring hillside, thus
repeating the cycle. This is one of the factors that would lead to the
collapse of the mountaineer's independence.

later in the nineteenth and early twentieth century the
businessmen of the east again turned towards the Southern
Appalachians. This time, their interest was sparked by the vast
amounts of coal that lay underneath the hills and ridges. The Southern
Appalachians had vast reserves of bituminous or soft coal. This type of
fuel burned easier and was easier to extract than the anthracite (or
hard) coal found in the mining areas of Pennsylvania and New York.
The coal barons immediately bought the mineral rights to the
mountaineer's land, using the same tactics that they had employed to

gain the timber rights. Thousands of mountain families sold their land

20
at a fraction of its worth (Caudill 73). The coal industry than began to

recruit workers from the mountain population (Salstrom 12). They
built towns with general stores and other "modern" conveniences.
Many of the coal companies recruited miners by playing on their fears
about the future. The mountaineer often abandoned his ancestral home
and moved his family into the coal towns. The coal companies paid
wages in scrip instead of cash, thus assuring that the miner would get
all of his necessities from the company store. The costs of rent and fuel
were taken out of the miner's pay. While some coal towns had
adequate sewage, educational and recreation programs, many ignored
these luxuries and provided only what the miner needed to survive
(Caudill 100).

Surrounded by manufactured goods, many mountaineers began to
desire a lifestyle that they had never experienced. Women demanded
manufactured dresses and fancy window coverings for their houses.
Men had access to new hunting gear as well as a variety of bottled
liquor and material possessions for the first time in their lives. This
fact, combined with the high prices charged and the low wages paid by
the company forced many families into debt for the first time in their
lives. They were forced to obtain loans either at the company bank or
from the company itself. Thus the mountaineer began his long

downward spiral into economic servitude.

21
The mining profession was immensely profitable in the early 19005

as the United States began to mechanize. Coal was the fuel of choice for
most of the nation, and the high demand strained production
capabilities throughout Southern Appalachia. Many mountaineers
found that they could make much more money in the mines than in the
fields, and wrote to relatives encouraging them to come and work for
the coal companies. Although coal mining is one of the most hazardous
professions (slate falls and cave-ins were not uncommon), the coal
companies never had trouble finding employees at the beginning of the
century. If a miner was injured, there was little that he could do in
order to provide for his family. There was no accident or life insurance,
and after an accident or a death the coal company usually evicted the
injured person and/or their family. With only scrip money, many
injured miners joined their relatives either back on the family farm or
in the coal towns (Caudill 121).

As the larger coal companies became interested in the coal reserves
of the Southern Appalachians, they set up corporations and mines
throughout the region. With these corporations came supervisors and
bosses from the east. Almost always these men had worked as bosses
in the northern coal mines or been trained in business at the eastern
colleges. Very few mountaineers were made foremen or bosses, and

there was little upward mobility for the miner. A few mountaineers

22
did gain positions with the coal companies, but they were almost

always reviled as traitors to their neighbors. This discrepancy in
cultures between the workers and the management widened the gulf
that separated them and made it difficult for the two to negotiate
(Caudill 113). This was to become a major factor when the miners
finally began to unionize.

Although coal production continued to be high throughout the first
twenty years of the twentieth century, the Great Depression hit the
Southern Appalachians as hard as anywhere else in the United States.
Few companies had saved any liquid assets, having poured most of
their profits into the search for more coal. When the economy failed,
there was a huge supply of coal and no demand. Prices for coal fell
drastically, and the companies started cutting payrolls and closing
mines to stay solvent. As a result, many mountaineers found
themselves suddenly unemployed with no marketable skills. Many
returned to their ancestral lands to try to eke out a living as farmers.
Still others left the mountains for the cities of the east and midwest,
where they hoped to find work for themselves and their families. The
fact that the mountaineer had been paid with scrip and not cash only
increased his economic problems. However, with the election of
Franklin Roosevelt and the implementation of the New Deal things

began slowly to improve for the mountain people. The twin programs

23
of the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Tennessee Valley Authority .

employed hundreds of young mountain men while improving the
standard of living for almost all of the residents of the Appalachians
(Caudill 207).

It was during these times that the first mass unionization began.
The United Mine Workers and the Progressive Mine Workers both sent
representatives into the coal camps to try to gain new members
(Caudill 192). Originally these organizers were treated with distrust
and suspicion. Many mountaineers, recalling their hatred of outsiders,
refused to deal with the union men. Others firmly believed that any
union must be influenced by the communists and as such it was
inherently unpatriotic to join one. However, as the union organizers
continued to foment dissent amongst the miners the mountaineers
began to listen. To many, it finally appeared as if someone was going to
look out for their interests. Many miners enlisted in the union's ranks,
and pressured their fellow miners to do the same. Soon afterwards, the
first strikes were held (Caudill 200). Many Americans viewed the
strikes as unpatriotic and dangerous to the welfare of the nation. After
all, the miners were stopping a large percentage of the American fuel
supply. Many of the mine operators brought in scabs as well as hired
guards, and bloody battles that rivaled the family feuds of earlier

generations erupted. Violence broke out between the scabs and the

24
union men and between the union men and the hired guards and town

police (Caudill 193). In addition, the UMW and the PMW often fought
amongst themselves in trying to enlist men into their union. Harlan
County, Kentucky has been the scene of so much union violence that it
has earned the nickname "Bloody" Harlan County (Caudill 193). A
strike called here in 1931 resulted in the death of one miner and three
company guards (Caudill 196). Even today, Harlan County still bears
the legacy of violence. The documentary hatlan Coungz, USA. depicted
the struggles of the 1975 UMW strike, where miners were killed by
thugs allegedly hired by the company.

In 1939 with the beginnings of the war in Europe, many of the
unions and the coal operators settled their differences and production
started increasing to meet the increasing demand (Caudill 219).
Demand for coal skyrocketed with the entry of the United States into
the conflict. This high demand lasted till the end of the fifties, when
demand slacked off. During this time another element had arrived
which threatened the mountaineer/ miner. The automation of mining
had increased steadily and resulted in a dramatic increase in
production. With this increased production came a decrease in the
amount of men needed to work in the mines. In addition, those men
that were needed had to be trained in the operation of this machinery.

Many of the older mountaineers who had never worked outside of the

25
mines now found themselves without a job and without any useful

skills. The majority of these men were forced to live on whatever
pension checks the union could pay and whatever unemployment they
could collect. For the most part they had been reduced to a total state
of dependency (Caudill 259).

This increase in technology and automation reached its apex with
the incorporation and implementation of strip mining in the 1950s.
Strip mining is a controversial method of extraction where the top
layers of dirt and slate are removed by heavy digging machinery such
as bulldozers. The coal is then scooped up once it is exposed. Strip
mining is infinitely safer than the older methods, yet it is much more
damaging to the environment (Caudill 311). Hundreds of streams and
rivers throughout Appalachia have become choked and polluted with
the refuse left by strip mining. The mountaintops have lost almost all
of their topsoil, as there is nothing to hold the soil onto the ground once
it is replaced. For the mountaineer, strip mining has meant an end to a
way of life that has lasted him over eighty years. Again, mountaineers
are being forced to learn new skills or face unemployment as much of
the machinery and techniques used in strip mining are complex. In
addition, the mountaineer is seeing the mountains that have provided
for him and his family systematically destroyed.

The history of the mountain people is a sad history of neglect,

26
despair and dependency. Every major event that has affected them has

been precipitated outside the mountains. The mountaineer, while once
self-reliant, has become needy and dependant upon others. This is
slowly changing in the mountains, as the influence of television, radio,
and travel have begun to enlarge the mountaineer's horizons. Many
mountain men and women now see the importance of education for
their children and have encouraged them to stay in school and get an
education. However, as the mountaineer's horizons are expanding, he is
losing many of the qualities that make him an unique figure, and is
becoming assimilated into mainstream society. Thus the mountaineer
may well be on the way towards improvement of his situation, but at

the cost of his identity.

C. The Mountaineer

The mountaineer is unique among rural American icons because of
his relationship to his history. While many of the traditional American
icons have made their own fortunes, the mountaineer has been
influenced by outside factors which have shaped his past and
contributed towards his character. The mountaineer has endured these
changes with an sense of fatalism. This is in contrast to the common
perceptions of the other primary rural American icons, all of whom
have influenced the nation and changed their lives for the better.
While historically, these icons may have been influenced and controlled
by the actions of others, the common perception of them is that they
were self-made men who struggled and succeeded in controlling their
destiny. For example, three prominent mythic rural American icons:
the midwestem farmer, the cowboy of Texas and the Southwest and
the 49ers of California have all changed their own history and
conquered their environment. The farmer had often pulled up
everything and moved his family to the Great Plains. He endured
drought, tornadoes and locust infestations while bending the land to his
will. Eventually, he created the farmland that provides the nation with

food. The 49er also moved himself and his belongings across a

27

28
continent in order to seek wealth. He settled the land around San

Francisco, and made California a recognizable place on the map. His
success spurred others to join him and to eventually settle the west.

The cowboy is perhaps the greatest American rural icon. He also
found a way to live in harmony with the land and to create his own
fortune. He drove cattle from the plains to the great cattle stations in
the cities. Along the way he learned how to provide for himself and his
cattle from what the land offered. He also defended his cattle and land
from attacks by bandits and others. The great image of the cowboy is
of him breaking a wild horse to the saddle. This is a perfect metaphor
for how the cowboy conquered the west.

In contrast to all of these icons, the mountaineer has never been
able to manufacture his own history. He has, for the most part, been
extremely isolationist to the point where he cannot or will not take
action that involved others. All of the important events that have
changed the mountains: The Civil War, the coming of the coal barons,
and the rise of the unions, were all begun by someone outside of the
mountains who dragged the mountaineer into the situation. In
addition, once in these situations the mountaineer seemed to be content
to ride it out and wait for a change in the outcome. Only when prodded
to the greatest extremes did the mountaineer take up the challenge and

try to change his situation. Out of all of the rural American icons, the

29
mountaineer is still the only one viewed in a less heroic image.

However, the mountaineer has been a powerful presence in many
aspects of American culture. Bluegrass music is derived almost
exclusively from the Appalachians and has become a popular musical
style, influencing blues, rock and country. The stories told for
generations by mountain storytellers have been collected and
published in numerous volumes. The legendary figures of the
mountains have become a part of the American mythological canon.
The stories of Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, the two best known
mountaineers, have both been made into major films. In addition, the
stereotype of the mountaineer is seen in everything from the Snuffy
Smith comic strip to the Clampetts on jlfhe Beverly Hillbillies. Yet this
has not fully translated to increased exposure for the mountaineer on
the American stage. Since the end of the Second World War, only a
handful of plays have attempted to portray the mountaineer and his
society on the stage.

The mountaineer's specific character evolved over time and is the
result of long periods of geographical isolation. Indeed, many
mountaineers in the Southern Appalachians share common traits with
other mountain people throughout the world. Jack Weller, a noted
sociologist and resident of the Appalachians, compares the

mountaineer to middle class America in his book Yesterday's People.

. 30
Through this comparison the characteristics which define the

mountaineer are revealed. Weller claims that the mountaineer has
several common traits that make up his nature: individualism,
traditionalism, fatalism, action seeking, the psychology of fear, and
people orientation (Weller We 945). These traits have
evolved over time. Weller says "Just as the rubbing shoe, unknown to
the wearer, begins to put calluses on the foot, changing its contour, so
the mountaineer has had calluses rubbed on his mind and soul, worn
there by the constant brushes of life against a tight environment and
an economy that denied him room to develop freely" (Weller 29).
These are the traits which dramatists incorporated into the most
resonant and accurate mountaineer characters.

The first trait is individualism. Many of the first settlers in the
Appalachian region were either second sons without any inheritance or
indentured servants who were recently freed. They settled in the
hollows and valleys of the mountains, cut off from their neighbors by
the mountains that stood between them. Because of the poor quality of
the soil on the mountainsides, large amounts of land were needed to
feed families. Therefore, the mountaineer claimed this land and was
not willing to share it with his neighbors. However, over the years this
independence was transformed into an extreme individualism because

of the lack of interactive social activity within the mountain

31
community. Due to the distance and difficulty of travel, very few

community activities were held. Therefore the mountaineer became
concerned with the personal success of only himself and his family.
Weller defines the difference between independence and individualism
by saying "A man with independence may well work in his own way
for a cooperative and common good. Surely many of the great leaders ‘
of the world have been independent thinkers..." (Weller 30-31). Weller
continues, saying "Individualism, on the other hand, has a self directed
quality in it: a man works, perhaps in independent ways, with his own
gain or well being in mind. It is to this quality of individualism that
the mountaineer's independence has come. All that he does has the self
and its concerns at heart" (Weller 31). As evidence of this trait, Weller
cites a study where the mountaineers were asked whether or not
public welfare was a positive thing. Weller says "...six out of seven
respondents agreed that it is, and two out of three indicated that there
is no stigma attached to a family's being on relief" (Weller 32). The
mountaineer has no problem accepting welfare and not contributing to
the economic life of his community in order to aid his family. Clearly
the individualistic nature of the mountaineer has alienated him from
his community and the nation at large, and prevented him from
bettering himself and the communities in which he lives.

Another trait of the mountaineer is traditionalism. The

32
mountaineer has a regressive outlook and lives for the past (Weller 34).

The life of the mountaineer is difficult; as a farmer his crop yields were
often small because of poor productivity, and life in the mines was
always dangerous. In addition, there was little to look forward to in
terms of advancement. Because of his limited outlook, the mountaineer
cannot visualize himself leaving the family and community to seek a
better life elsewhere. Due to these factors, the mountaineer tends to
not care about the future, and views the past with an idyllic eye. They
tend to forget the troubles of the past and remember the good times
shared with family and friends.

This trait also manifests itself in the way the mountaineer views his
possessions. This viewpoint can be seen in the "existence-oriented"
nature of the mountaineer. Weller says "the existence oriented
society...is geared toward achieving only the very basic goods needed
for survival—food, clothing, shelter and a minimum of comfort. The
secondary goals of beauty, excellence, refinement...are not considered"
(Weller 35). He then describes how this applies to the mountaineer,
saying "Even when a coal miner is enjoying a good ‘ income...his
house...may show no sign of improvement, and his cultural investment
for himself and his family may not change" (Weller 35). The
prevalence of this traditional, existence oriented society is not only

seen in the neighborhoods and lifestyles of the mountaineer, but is also

33
reflected in the music and stories that are told. Weller writes "Much of

mountain music is nostalgic and melancholy" (Weller 34), and the
subject matter of many of these songs is past heroes of the area or
forbidden loves in older times. It is no coincidence the the Southern
Appalachians are one of the last areas in America where storytelling is
still alive as a popular art form.

Another trait of the mountaineer that is closely linked to the
traditional outlook is fatalism. Due to their traditional religious outlook,
many mountaineers have embraced the concept of predestination. It is
this belief that allows the coal miner to return to an often unsafe mine
day after day. One mountaineer expressed his viewpoint, saying "If
that's the way God wants it, I reckon that's the way it'll be. We just
have to take what the Lord sends us. He knows best" (Weller 37-38).
In addition, this fatalism reinforces the idea that poverty is a holier
state of being than wealth, because if God wanted the mountaineer to
be rich he wouldn't have placed them in the mountains. The past
failures of the mountaineer are the reason for this current outlook. He
tried to farm hillsides that gave him a poor crop yield which decreased
year after year. Then the timber and mineral rights to his land were
bought from him for pennies. After all of this the mountaineer had
learned not to hope or plan for the future or try to effect change.

Fatalism became a solid tenet of the mountaineer philosophy.

34
Another aspect of the mountaineer philosophy is the concept of the

mountain man as an "action seeker" (Weller 40). The action seeker
eschews the normal, routine life. He or she lives a life that is
"...episodic. During the routines he cannot escape, he usually just exists,
waiting for the next episode of action that will provide the real meat of
life" (Weller 41). For the mountaineer, these episodes could be fishing
or hunting trips, sporting events or social gatherings. Routine pursuits
are endured so that the mountaineer can participate in these moments
of excitement. School and church as two examples of this. The
mountaineer child will sit through school so he can play football or
basketball. However, he makes no attempt to improve himself through
education (Weller 42). Church works the same way. Weller writes "He
(the mountaineer) tends not to be a churchgoer, since church is routine.
On occasion, however, he may attend tent meetings and revivals, but
such attendance really bears out his need for action" (Weller 42).

Even the professions of the mountaineer are ones that are based on
excitement and uncertainty. In the old mines, the slate and rock was
blasted away from the coal through the use of explosives. These
charges were often unstable and would explode too soon or not at all.
Even when new, safer explosive charges replaced the older ones, the
"thrill" of working in the mines still remained. Weller writes "The

dangers involved, the constant movement of the job into ever new

35
areas of work....even the walkout and the strike—all lend an excitement

to the work that is anything but routine" (Weller 43). Even the
traditional mountain jobs of logging and farming were fraught with
uncertainties and exciting to the mountaineer. The logger's job allowed
him to move freely through the mountains, seeing new people and
areas each day. In addition, there was a great amount of danger as the
logger could easily be maimed or killed by falling trees on the steep
hillsides. Even the Appalachian farmers were constantly faced with the
uncertainty of the weather and the crop yields. For many a subsistence
farmer, a poor crop yield meant hunger for him and his family. The
mountaineer's love of these uncertain lifestyles has hampered his
ability to provide a stable, constant income for his family.

Interestingly enough, the mountain women embrace the idea of
routine much more so than their male counterparts. Most of the men
draw their social contacts from work, and have little use for such
activities as the PTA or church groups. The women, in contrast, are
almost always unemployed and have to gain their social connections
elsewhere. Many then join church or school groups that meet on a
regular basis. In addition, the daily routines of cleaning, cooking and
taking care of children give the mountaineer women a clearer sense of
routine. '

Another element of the mountaineer's persona is his orientation

36
towards people rather than career goals. An object oriented person

works towards the achievement of goals and objectives that will better
herself and her community. While this is seen in some parts of the
mountain culture, the majority of mountaineers are people oriented.
This means that they place personal relationships above career
objectives. Weller describes it well, saying "The person oriented
individual also strives, but not for objects...He wants to be liked,
accepted and noticed...he is reluctant to separate himself from any
group in which he finds this acceptance" (Weller 50). The common
misconception among mountaineers is that an object oriented person is
cynical, manipulative and ruthlessly ambitious. Many mountain men
refuse to take positions of authority over their peers because they are
afraid of being thought of in this manner. In addition, many of the
mountaineers who have achieved positions of power (such as a union
foreman) will not be removed from that position despite their success
or failure. To do so would be to insult the holder of that position, and
the mountaineer is too oriented towards people's feelings for that ever
to happen.

This has both positive and negative aspects for the mountaineer. He
is on very good terms with his neighbor and lives an unhurried
lifestyle. Small errands to borrow sugar or get information almost

always become 20-30 minute informal conversations. The mountaineer

. 37
is almost always willing to put aside meetings or work if a neighbor

needs help changing a flat or watching her kids. However, this type of
behavior has caused tremendous headaches for relief agencies trying to
assist the mountaineer. In addition, this lack of ambition is partly to
blame for the constant state of poverty that the mountaineer lives in.
This is one of the reasons that it took the coal miners of the Southern
Appalachians so long to organize into unions. While their Northern
counterparts were quick to see the benefits of a strong union, and
elected good negotiators as their leaders, the miners in the south were
apprehensive about the organizers. In fact, most of the organizers and
strategists for the United Mine Workers came from the north. The
Southern Appalachian mountaineer was too "people oriented" to push
for change, as such an action would embarrass the mine management
(who the mountaineer knew) and would be perceived as an ambitious
grab for power.

The final important trait of the mountaineer is the relationship of
the mountaineer to fear. Many instances have been recorded of the
bravery of the mountaineer in combat or when faced by disasters such
as flood or mine explosions. However, Weller claims that "In daily life,
however, mountain society is filled with apprehension" (Weller 44).
Parents control their children through fear, and public presentations

are greeted with dread. Much of this relates to the people oriented

38
nature of the mountaineer. He doesn't want to appear pushy or foolish

in front of his family and peers, and is thus unwilling to participate in
public activities. Even the mountaineer family reinforces this. Weller
writes "The members of a family...are bound to each other by ties of
emotional dependence which tend to increase insecurity...the family is
not so much a mutually supporting group...as it is a group in which each
member demands support from the others" (Weller 45). The
mountaineer only feels comfortable when he is in security of the
familiar. The fear of the unknown or unfamiliar has prevented the
mountaineer from moving his family off of unfertile land or out of the
unsanitary coal camps. It has lead them to become trapped in an

unprofitable and unchanging way of life.

Chapter 3

Analysis of Dramatic Literature

A. Dark of the Moon

One of the most popular plays to incorporate the mountaineer
character was William Richardson's and William Berney's Denkpflhe
Mpgn. Written in 1945, Detk pi the Moon tells the story of John, a
witch boy in the Smokey Mountains. John sees Barbara Allen, a
mountain girl, and asks the Conjur Man and Woman to make him
human so he can marry her. Conjur Woman agrees, but only on two
conditions: John can never enter a church and Barbara Allen must
remain faithful to him for an entire year. After he agrees, John is
transformed into a human and goes into the town. At first, the
townsfolk are suspicious of him, but Barbara immediately gravitates to
the stranger. She recognizes him as the same man she spent a night
with before he was human. Despite the protestations of her father and
Marvin Hudgens (who wants to marry her himself), Barbara agrees to
marry John although the family knows nothing about him. However,
when John bests Marvin in both a wrestling match and in a lifting

contest, the townspeople begin to wonder if he is a witch. When John

39

4O
refuses to be married in a church, and gives Barbara a ring from a dead

member of the community, their suspicions are confirmed. After the
wedding, when John is finally human, he discovers that life in the
mountains is difficult, and he labors over the smallest tasks. Finally
when Barbara delivers their baby from the night they spent together
when he was a witch, it is born dead, deformed and black. The
townspeople then know that the birth of the witch baby is proof of
John's heritage. Meanwhile, up on the mountains, the two witches from
John's past make a bet with Conjur Man that Barbara Allen will be
unfaithful and John will still stay with her. If they win, Conjur Man
agrees to kill Barbara Allen. In the next scene, Barbara's family has
dragged her to a revival being held by Preacher Hagglar. At the
revival, Barbara reveals the agreement made between John and the
Conjur Woman, including the fact that she has been faithful to him
throughout the year, which ends tonight. Upon hearing this, the
preacher pushes Barbara forward, encouraging someone to sleep with
her so that she is no longer married to a witch and her soul can be
saved. Marvin then declares his love for Barbara, and the two are
forced together by the members of the congregation. Meanwhile, John
has asked Conjur Woman for another chance with Barbara. Conjur Man,
living up to his end of the bet, has told John that he will kill Barbara at

the end of the night. Finally Barbara arrives and tells John of how they

41
forced her to be unfaithful. John reveals that he has to leave her, and

tells her that she will die The play ends as Barbara dies in John's
arms, and then he transforms back into a witch and runs off into the
mountains.

Dash pf the Moon is based on the popular Appalachian "Ballad of
Barbara Allen." The story was taken from this historic ballad, and the
authors have remained close to the original song. In addition, the
structure of Dark ef the Moon allows for an interesting exploration of
Appalachian mountain society. Richardson and Berney have
intermingled scenes set in private locations with those set in public
forums. This alternating structure allows the authors to show how
these mountaineers react in various situations. The first introduction of
the mountaineer characters in the play comes in act I, scene ii, where
the townsfolk have gathered together to have a dance. These were
traditionally popular in Appalachia, as they allowed the community to
gather together and exchange information. Those attitudes are shown
in this scene. Mrs Bergen and Uncle Smelicue exchange pleasantries
and information. She says "You Lookin' spry. Heerd tell as how you
were tuckered up rheumatism" (Richardson and Berney, Dark of the
Meon 9). Mrs. Summey also gives some information to the community,
saying "Uncle Smelicue...Heerd yer cousin Emmer married a right well-

to-do man" (Richardson, Berney 9). The casual way that information is

42
given and shared reinforces the idea of the mountaineer as people-

oriented. There is no fighting amongst those gathered, as they all know
their social roles for the dance. It is only when a stranger, John, enters
the group that things become tense and uncertain. Still when John
proves himself by wrestling Marvin, he is accepted into the group,
having gone through an unofficial "trial" of sorts. In addition,
Richardson and Berney also use these scenes to reinforce the traditional
nature of the mountaineer. When asked about his rheumatism,
Smelicue replies "My rheumatism's kinda calmed down sinst I been
totin' them horse chestnuts around in my pocket" (Richardson and
Berney 9). Smelicue relies on a traditional remedy, despite whatever
medical evidence there is to the contrary.

Richardson and Berney also show the mountaineer society in the
fourth scene of the play. Set in the general store, they once again
present the audience with a large gathering of mountaineers who have
arrived and are simply sharing information. This is an example of the
"people-oriented" nature of the mountaineer. Throughout the entire
scene, there is only one purchase made, and even that is done in a
leisurely manner. Most of the mountaineers are content to hang
around the store and share gossip and stories. later in the scene, when
John and Barbara appear and ask to be married, Richardson and Berney

show the audience another aspect of mountaineer culture. The

43
acceptance by the mountaineers of a wedding in a general store

displays the "action seeker" in their lifestyle. This is something that
otherwise wouldn't happen, and it captivates the townspeople. Despite
some protestation, the preacher agrees to perform the service. The fact
that neither parent is present for their daughter's wedding echoes a
trait Weller describes in Yestegleyjsfiepple. Weller writes "...the
wedding is often thought of as 'doing what's necessary' rather than
being an experience that is planned for...often the young couple will
just 'decide to get married' one weekend...going to find any 'preacher'
who will perform the service right away" (Weller 73). This is exactly
what John and Barbara do in Dark of the Menu. John says"...Preacher,
we'd like to get married right away...We wants to git married to-day
and right now" (Richardson and Berney 37). While the mountaineer
townsfolk are surprised by this announcement, the only objections are
raised when John and Barbara refuse to get married in a church. The
mountaineer accepts the speed of the engagement and marriage
ceremony because it adds excitement to their lives.

Richardson and Berney also show the mountaineer culture at home
when the scene shifts to the Allen cabin in scene three. In private, the
Allen family displays several of the archetypal mountaineer traits. The
Allens, particularly Mr. Allen, are the characters that are the most

similar to Weller's definition of the mountaineer in the play. The

1 44
Allens are definatly superstitious and traditional. Floyd asks his

mother when hog killing time is, and she responds "The signs ain't right
yit, son. Got to slop the hawgs till the signs git right" (Ricardson and
Berney 17). The Allens also show the individualism in Weller's
character definition. Mrs. Allen says, when asked about a social worker
"Social worker say a heap aside her prayers. She edicated" (Richardson
and Berney 17). This is delivered with a sense of amused scorn. Later
in the scene, when the preacher has come by to try to arrange a
marriage for John to Barbara, Mr. Allen disagrees, saying "I ain't got no
truck with furriners" (Richardson and Berney 23). He also argues that
"...he ain't fer me. You don't know nothin' about him...Hit jes seem
quare somehow" (Richardson and Berney 24). The Allens also show the
people-orientation and hospitality that the mountaineer is known for.
When Preacher Haggler arrives, Mr. Allen offers him a chair, saying
"Howdy, Preacher Haggler. Draw you up a char and set a spell"
(Richardson and Berney 19). Later in the scene, Mr. Allen shares his
whiskey with the preacher, and Mrs. Allen even offers to cook him a
meal. Only after all of these pleasantries have been exchanged does the
preacher reveal the reason he came to visit. Even John, stranger that
he is, is offered a meal when he arrives at the cabin. Mrs. Allen says
"(to John) Kin I git you some supper?" (Richardson and Berney 23).

Richardson and Berney show the native mountaineer culture in

45
comparison with that of outsiders in this scene. The slow, relaxed way

of business that Mr. Allen and Preacher Haggler engage in is shown in
direct contrast to John's quick, staccato replies to the questions asked
by Mr. Allen and Mrs. Allen. The Allens are shown as an average
mountain family, and Richardson and Berney have tried to portray
them accurately.

Despite all of this, W fails to portray completely any
single mountaineer character. Mr. Allen, Preacher Haggler, Marvin
Hudgens and the rest of the townspeople all have certain mountaineer
characteristics, yet none of them are fully developed into more than
caricatures. John, as the main character, is too much of an outsider to
ever become a "true" mountaineer. Even when he becomes fully
human, John still remains hopeful for the future, and never becomes
trapped in the fatalism and traditionalism that is the hallmark of the
mountain culture. At the end of the play, as his life is falling apart,
John still approaches Conjur Woman begging for another chance. He
says "I want you to give me another chanst...let me be human jes' a
little while longer" (Richardson and Berney 69). John's continual hope
is the opposite of the traditional mountaineer outlook. Even Barbara
Allen, a mountain woman, is too hopeful to be classified as a
mountaineer. Barbara never reconciles herself to her fate until the

very end. Throughout the play she defends John and her lifestyle to

46
the members of the community. Even when her baby is born deformed

and dead, she still defends John instead of accepting the status quo.
When they question whether John has left her, she says "He ain't left
me! He come back" (Richardson and Berney 49). It is necessary for
these two characters to be optimistic and hopeful if the drama is to be
successful. However, the very traits that make them heroic are

opposite the traditional traits of the mountaineer.

B. The Plays of Romulus Linney

Romulus Linney has also explored the character of the mountaineer
in his plays. He is one of the most prolific contemporary American
playwrights, having written over 30 plays in a thirty year period.
Linney is also special amongst American authors as he has incorporated

many of the stories and legends of the Appalachians into plays, notably

Iennessee_(1979), a d u t ' a a ’n and Why the lprd
Come tn Send Mountain (1985). Linney also wrote flplyfihests, a play

which deals with Pentecostal Church Snakehandlers, which could be set
in the same geographical area. However, Linney defines the location of
Wests as "The rural South," (Linney lheSgppgvy/spflliredefiekand
112119.th 98) and therefore it is not a subject for this study.

However, IennesLee and the Sand Moung’n series are directly
linked to the Southern Appalachian mountains. All three plays come
directly from stories and legends told in the region. In addition, Linney
has made a mountain man or woman the focus of these plays. Linney
has attempted to portray an archetypal mountaineer character as a
driving force in these stories, and has succeeded in creating an
interesting theatrical portrayal of the mountaineer.

Linney has set Tennessee in the Appalachian mountains of North

47

48
Carolina in 1870. In it he tells the story of an old woman who appears

at a mountaineer's house one day. The woman then tells the family
that her family once lived in their cabin. Then, through a flashback,
she relates how she married a young man who promised to take her to
Tennessee. She tells them that after a long and difficult trip, she and
her husband made it to Tennessee. They lived a difficult life there
until her husband died and she left. After a few days of travelling, she
arrived at the family's cabin. Having seen clues on her journey, the old
woman reveals that her husband only drove her a short distance away
and told her that they were in Tennessee. In reality, she was only
seven miles away from her family and friends.

Linney has taken this story from a popular Appalachian folktale. In
the book Whete Time Stood Still, authors Bruce and Nancy Roberts

write:

The story is still told in the Appalachian Mountains of the
young man who abducted his sweetheart because her family
opposed their marriage. He carried her away with him deep
into the mountains and built a cabin for his bride at the edge
of a dense forest. One day several years later, when her
husband was out hunting, she decided to go berry picking.
She wandered farther and farther into the woods in search of
berries and finally, as she crossed a stream, saw a cabin a
short distance away. To her surprise she recognized the

49
home of her parents! For five years she had been living only

three miles from her family, unknown to them or her. (Bruce

and Nancy Roberts, Where Time Steed Still 1).

While the story is slightly different from flfennessee, the similarities
are unmistakable. Linney has only exaggerated the story in order to
make the play more dramatic and tragic. In addition, by increasing the
amount of time that the old woman spent away from her family,
Linney has illustrated several of the key characteristics of the
mountaineer.

The primary mountaineer characteristic that is a key part of the old
woman is her fatalism. She accepts everything that has happened to
her, even when the truth is revealed. Instead of moving back with
friends or her family, she decides to return to "Tennessee." She says
"That damn man! Whew. Shoo. Well, that's that. Think you lived all
your life in Tennessee. Find out you didn't...Good Luck...Bye" (Linney
flfennessee 23). When she is asked where she is going, she replies "Back
to Tennessee. Where else?" (Linney 23). In addition, she also displays
the mountaineer's trait of individualism earlier in the play. When
asked about her choices for marriage, she says "Damn men...Wanting to
lie on top of me one minute, and work me to death the next...Well I
won't! I won't leave this house, and you, to be plowed under like dirt

by some sweating, groaning, bone-headed man! Hell no!" (Linney 12).

50
Despite the fact that her entire family wants her to marry, the Old

Woman refuses to do so until she gets what she wants. This is a clear
case of the mountaineer's individualistic trait. Another characteristic of
the mountaineer culture that Linney incorporated into the characters in
W was people-orientation. Although the family on the porch
doesn't know the old woman, they immediately offer her a place to rest
and food to eat. They ask her about her story and patiently answer her
questions. This interplay between strangers is common in the
mountains, and is a clear example of inter-personal orientation. The
action-orientation of the mountaineer is also seen in the Old Woman's
decision to go to Tennessee. She doesn't know what is in Tennessee,
but in her mind it has to be more interesting than her current situation.
This is another element of the mountaineer's psyche.

However, possibly due to the length of the play, Linney fails to
incorporate several key mountaineer elements into his main character.
The Old Woman defies both her parents and her family in making her
own decision about whom she will marry. While this is a good example
of her individualism, it also flies in the face of the traditional nature of
the mountaineer. If Linney had incorporated the traditional beliefs of
the mountains, than the Old Woman would have been wed to
whomever her father chose. In addition, Linney also doesn't

incorporate the relationship to fear and the unknown that any

51
mountaineer moving to a new area would encounter. Although it

appears as though the Old Woman has a few regrets, for the most part
she is the one pushing for Tennessee and willing to leave home. She
never appears apprehensive about her trip or future. Because these
traits are omitted, the Old Woman is not a complete portrayal of the
mountaineer archetype, although she comes close.

Linney has also written two other plays set in the Southern
Appalachians. His Sane Mountain series is composed of two short
plays, SanLMennteinMntenmelsing and W
Mountain. Both plays have mountaineers as central figures, and both
explore the mountaineer's relationship to others. W
Memhmgkmg tells the story of Rebecca Tull, a young mountain widow
from Virginia who is seeking remarriage. Although several mountain
men offer themselves to her, she refuses to marry them because of
their attitudes. Finally, in frustration, she seeks the wisdom of Lottie,
an ancient mountain woman. Lottie tells Rebecca to say a simple
sentence to each of the men, and she will know which man to marry
based on their responses. The sentence is "A man's horn is three times
the size of his nose" (Linney Sand Mountain Matchmaking 71). Lottie
claims that this charm will work, and, although she is doubtful, Rebecca
does as she is told. After several men walk away embarrassed, a

mountain man named Sam Bean arrives, intrigued by Rebecca's

52
boldness with the other men. After a brief give-and-take negotiation,

they agree to continue seeing each other.

Wag exposes the audience to a variety of
mountaineers and explores several of Weller's archetypal traits.
Rebecca's first three suitors are all different aspects of the
mountaineer. Clink, the first one, is a young virile man who says he
"Tolerates a woman's carnal nature" (Linney 66). He is followed by
Slate, who asks her to sleep with him immediately, because "...you'll
take the man will have you, take him fast and gladly. There's worse
than me" (Linney 67). Her third suitor, Radley, appears to be a
gentleman, but spends his entire time with her quoting the Bible.
These three men can be seen as different aspects of the same
mountaineer. Clink is the young, strong man, who knows what he
wants from his wife, and expects her to know her place. Slate is an
older version of Clink, having been worn down by the mountain and
the years. After all of this, he has little use for pleasantries and
conversation, and so is even more blunt than Clink. Radley, the third,
can be viewed as one of the more sophisticated mountaineers, having
the ability to read. Still he shares many of the same attitudes as the
other two, but uses the Bible to justify his aCtions One element that all
of these men share is their belief in traditionalism. All three warn

Rebecca about what she can expect as an unmarried woman on the

53
mountain. They expect a woman to know her place, and to care for the

man and take care of the family. Slate tells Rebecca about his friend,
who took a wife who could read and write like Rebecca. He explains
how this woman waited for a man, but was finally reduced to marrying,
and now she accepts her role in mountaineer society. He says "She
don't talk to nobody now. She tends his younguns...and HIS meals, and
HIS clothes...and everythang. else that's HIS, afore she even commences
pondering anything that's HERS. It will happen to you..." (Linney 67).
In addition, all three men have a fatalistic belief that Rebecca will cave
in to their charms. All three leave her by declaring that they'll be back,
and all tell her that she will marry them.

Rebecca, in contrast, holds none of these beliefs. She came to Sand
Mountain from Virginia, and, as the daughter of a preacher, knows how
to read and write. She also has definite opinions of what she wants in a
man, and is strongly independent. Although these are not typical
mountain woman traits, Rebecca still possesses enough mountaineer
traits to make her a mountain woman. She has a strong respect for her
parents and her elders, as is shown in the scene with Lottie. Although
Lottie first appears as a batty old woman full of homespun
philosophies, Rebecca never disdains her or treats her badly. In
addition, Rebecca's parents are pushing her back into marriage, and she

acquiesces to their wishes. This respect for one's elders are examples

54
of both the "person-orientation" and traditionalism seen in the

mountaineers. Another example of Rebecca's person-orientation is in
the way that she treats her first three suitors. Although they are all
rude and insulting to her, she maintains her decorum until they leave,
and never lets them know how rude she found them.

Rebecca is also very individualistic. She has agreed to marry again,
but wants it to be on her terms. She rejects the men who offer her
nothing but work. Finally, when Sam arrives, she asks him a slew of
questions to make sure that he respects her as a person. They "Talk
turkey and squirrel" (Linney 7S), and Rebecca asks Sam about his
faithfulness to her. She says "How long you calculate hit'd be, Mr. Bean,
afore you got plumb tired and familiar with me in that great feather
bed...turning away from me and my comfort, to your own?" (Linney
75). Rebecca is assuring herself that the man she marries will be
honest and faithful to her. Because she does this, and does not accept
the traditional offers of the other suitors, Rebecca is seen as an
individualistic woman who has several mountaineer traits

Despite this, there are no fully developed mountaineers in m
Mountein Matchmaking. Rebecca's early suitors are described as
mountaineers, yet they do not have enough stage time to validate that
claim with actions and words. Rebecca herself is too much of an

outsider to be a true mountaineer. She is a rarity in the mountains, a

55
strong willed woman who can read and write and knows what she

wants in a husband. Rebecca's expression of her individualism is also
one of the things that prevents her from being a complete portrayal of
a mountaineer woman. Sam, although possibly one of the most
mountain-based characters in the play, is too interested in Rebecca's
strangeness to be a traditional mountaineer. Lottie, the old mountain
woman, certainly reflects the traditionalism and fatalism of the
mountains with her homespun remedies, but she is only present for a
short scene and appears as more of a caricature than a full character.
Thus, the main characters in Sand Mountm’n Matchmaking help to
illustrate the character of the mountaineer by showing the audience
what the mountaineer is not. Their positive traits, combined with the
negativity and selfishness shown by the mountaineer characters, show
the mountaineer as an extremely negative and unflattering dramatic
character.

Linney also explores the traditionalism and fatalism 'of the
mountaineer's life in the second part of the mm series, Why
the Letd Come to Sand Mountain. The story, a revised version of the
classical Baucus and Philomon myth, has been a staple of Appalachian
storytelling for years. It begins with an introduction by an
Appalachian storyteller, who introduces herself to the audience and

sets the scene. Jesus and Saint Peter then appear and ask the

56
storyteller for directions-to Sand Mountain. They then proceed to Sand

Mountain, meeting a wealthy farmer who invites them to spend the
night with him. Jesus and Saint Peter decline, and the Lord then says
that he has found the shack he was looking for. The two then stop for
the night at the house of Jean and Jack, two poor mountaineers. The
two welcome Jesus and Saint Peter into their home and share their poor
supper with them. After supper, Jack, Jean and Jesus all share tall tales
from the mountains that they had heard. Their stories are simple and
amusing, and by the end of the night everyone is in a good mood.
Finally, Jesus encourages the two mountaineers to tell him the story of
his birth. Soon afterwards, Jesus and Peter retire for the night. The
next morning, Jesus gives the couple a magical gift of clothing, and he
and Peter leave to go home. The play ends with the storyteller telling
us how she believes in the story.

Once again, Linney has chosen to explore the traditionalism and
fatalism of the mountaineer. He does this through the characters of
Jack and Jean, the mountain couple that Jesus and Saint Peter visit.
Through Saint Peter's opening remarks, the traditional state of Jack and
Jean's household is established. Peter knowingly asks Jack "Old Man,
Young Woman. Whiskey. You two married? (They look at each other,
then shake their heads) You go to church? At all? (Same)" (Linney 83).

This is how many of the poorer mountaineers have lived for centuries,

57
and it is the only life they've ever known. Jack explains this to the

Lord, saying "...what with the chillun being so puny and poorly, we
stopped going places much, and afore we knowed it, we wus living up
here alone" (Linney 83). Jack has slid into his situation, not caring
about the changes until its was too late. This is the sort of fatalistic
attitude that is prevalent throughout mountaineer society, and still
remains a force in many mountaineers today.

In addition to the fatalism seen in Jean and Jack, Linney also
explores the traditionalism and people orientation that are hallmarks of
the mountaineer character. Jack and Jean give everything that they
have to the Lord and to Saint Peter, even though they aren't sure of
their identities. They invite them in and feed them, although they
barely have enough to feed their family. This is a clear example of the
mountaineer's person-orientation. In addition, the traditional nature of
mountaineer culture and customs is shown when Jack, Jean and the
Lord begin to tell stories. Jack's admission, earlier, that he and Jean
didn't get out much is an important element in this. Since they haven't
been in a social environment, the stories that Jack and Jean tell have
obviously been passed down through the generations. Their method of
telling them, as well as the hospitality offered to the Lord and Saint
Peter, are obvious examples of mountaineer traditionalism.

While these are strong arguments for Jack and Jean as a true

58
mountain couple, they are not fully developed in the play, and do not

fulfill the mountaineer archetypal requirements. Linney uses Jack and
Jean as storytellers, and he does not explore their relationship to fear
or their action orientation. In Why the Lotd Come te Send Monntein,
the three mountain folk : Jack, Jean, and Gen Sang, the narrator, all
focus on telling the story and advancing the plot. Their characters are
never fully developed because they don't need to be in order for the
play to work. Thus, although Linney has several plays set in the
Southern Appalachian Mountains, he has yet to incorporate a complete

mountaineer character into his plays.

C. The Kentucky Cycle

One of the most recent dramatic works to explore the world of the
mountaineer is Robert Schenkkan's We (1992). This
two night theatrical event is composed of nine one act plays that tell
the history of a county in Kentucky over the course of two hundred
years. Schenkkan explores the evolutions and changes that six
generations of three different families participate in. Based loosely on
Caudill's Night Comes te the Cumberlends, flfhe Kentucky Cyele depicts
the effects and reactions of major historical events upon the lives of
these mountaineers.

Ihe_Kentpelgy_Cche opens with its first play, titled Mestets_ef_the
Imee. In it the audience is introduced to Michael Rowen, an
indentured servant who has recently moved to Kentucky in search of
land and freedom. He meets Earl Tod, a trader, in an open clearing near
a river. During their conversation, Michael reveals that he was from a
town named Zion, which had been destroyed by Cherokees wielding
rifles. Just as he confirms that it was Tod who sold the Cherokees the
rifles, Tod is shot by Michael's friend, Sam. The Cherokees then
approach, and Michael promises them more rifles and ammunition in

exchange for land. As part of the deal, the Cherokees demand revenge

59

60
for Tod's murder, whereupon Michael swiftly stabs Sam with his knife.

The play ends with Michael telling the dying Sam that the blankets that
he has given to the Cherokees were poxed, so they are revenged for
Zion's massacre. The play ends with Michael surveying his new land as
Sam dies at his feet.

The second play in the series is entitled The—CenmshipeLMeming
Stat. This play opens with Michael Rowen, slightly older, dragging
home an Indian maiden named Morning Star to be his wife. She tries
to escape when he is sleeping, only to find that he has tied her to him.
She then tries to kill him and run away, but Michael tracks her down
and cuts her Achilles tendon, insuring that she'll never leave him. The
next scene is a dream sequence by Star as she relates the fate of the
poxed tribe and her own trials at the hands of Michael. One of these
involves the birth of her daughter, who Michael takes away and leaves
on a mountain to die. At the end of this scene, it is revealed that Star
has given birth to a son. The final scene in W
Stat: has Morning Star nursing her baby, while Michael refuses to accept
his role as a parent.

The third play in Ihe_i(_enmc_leLCyele is entitled Wining.
The play opens with Patrick Rowen, the sixteen year old son of Michael
and Morning Star, hunting on a field away from their cabin. He is

joined by Rebecca Talbert, a young girl of fourteen who he is enamored

61
of. They discuss how they are going to tell their parents that they want

to get married. Patrick then sees his father returning from a trip into
Lexington, and returns home to greet him. When he arrives, he sees
that his father has brought home a slave, named Sallie Biggs, to work in
their fields. Michael also announces his plan to breed Sallie to himself,
and to leave Patrick out of any inheritance. Patrick demands a share of
what is his, and he and his father get into an argument. Star distracts
Michael by pushing lye soap into his eyes, and Patrick stabs him. Just
then, Rebecca Talbert and her father Joe appear, having witnessed
Michael's murder. Joe and Star reveal that they were planning to run
away together, and then Joe demands that Patrick be tried for murder.
Star pleads on his behalf, and gets Joe to agree to let Patrick leave the
land and move west. Patrick moves to bury his father, but then whirls
around and kills Joe with his father's pistol, claiming "This is my land!
Rowen land! I ain't leavin'!" (Schenkkan, The Kentucky Cycle 78). He
then orders Rebecca into the house, saying ""A man's wife cain't witness
against him" (Schenkkan 78). He then orders Star off his land,
apologizes to Sallie, and buries his father, asking for a blessing on his
marriage from the man he killed.

The fourth installment is called Ties that Bind. At the opening, the
audience is introduced to Zach and Zeke Rowen, the children of Patrick

and Rebecca. They are wrestling and playing with Jessie Biggs, Sallie's

62
son, when they are interrupted by Patrick telling them to get ready, as

a circuit court is coming to visit. When the court does arrive, it is made
up of a judge, several bailiffs and a man known as Jeremiah. The judge
reveals that the Rowens have accumulated a substantial debt, and that
Jeremiah is their creditor. After hearing this, Patrick explains that he
bought and sold everything with Bank of Kentucky money, which was
no longer viable currency, yet was all that he had. The money had
become devalued when the bank had switched from paper money to
silver money, and now he was being forced to default. According to the
judge, he owes Jeremiah nine hundred and eight seven dollars and
thirty five cents. Patrick agrees to sell his land, but because it has
devalued, he still owes Jeremiah some four hundred dollars. Gradually,
in order to pay the debt, Patrick sells off his original homestead, his
mules, and even his slaves. When he sells his slaves, Sallie reveals to
Patrick that his father once slept with her, and Jessie is his half brother.
Zach is outraged by the thought of Patrick selling his brother, but
Patrick is still willing to do it. Finally, with everything sold to Jeremiah,
Patrick still owes him twelve dollars and sixty five cents, which
Jeremiah allows him to carry at ten percent a year. After Patrick begs
Jeremiah not to throw him off of his land, Jeremiah allows him to
sharecrop for him, and arranges it so that he gets 75% of all the crop

yields. Jeremiah then reveals that his last name is Talbert, and he is

63
the son of Joe Talbert, the man who Patrick killed so many years ago.

Star also reappears, getting one last look at her son. After the court
leaves, Zach also goes, saying he can't stand to be in the same house as
a man like his father. The play ends with Patrick being held by Zeke,
crying for the loss of Zach, as Zeke swears revenge.

The fifth play in the series is entitled Gg's Great Suptmr. It is forty
two years later, and the Rowens are still sharecropping for the Talberts.
The play opens with Richard Talbert, Jeremiah's son, riding up to the
Rowen household to ask Jed Rowen to accompany him as he joins the
Army of the Confederacy. Jed and his father, Zeke, have an argument
over this, with Zeke reminding Jed of the family feud the two families
are in. Jed tells his father to mind his own business and agrees to join
Richard in the morning. As soon as Richard leaves, he and his father
celebrate that Richard bought Jed's story. They make plans as to when
and how Jed can kill Richard and gain revenge for his family. The next
day, the army moves out and encounters heavy resistance on the
Cumberland river. Richard almost dies, but Jed saves his life, only to
kill him by pushing him into the river when they cross. Stuck on the
wrong side of the border, Jed hooks up with Quantrill and becomes a
part of his famous raiding party. After the brutality witnessed at
Lawrence, Kansas, Jed decides that he has had enough of Quantrill, and,

with some of the other soldiers, deserts and makes his way back to

64
Kentucky. There he is greeted by his father and mother, who had just

buried Patrick Rowen, his grandfather. The next day the Rowens,
accompanied by Jed and his friends, ride out against the Talbert
household, killing everyone in sight. Although they kill all of the males,
Jed allows two of the Talbert women to live, in addition to freeing a
slave family by the name of Biggs. The play ends with Jed freeing the
two Talbert women, and them chanting the names of the people who
destroyed their family. This is how the first night of The Kentucky
Cyele comes to a close.

The second night of jlfhe Kentucky Cycle is composed of four plays
which deal primarily with the coal industry's entrance into the
Appalachians and their influence there. The sixth play of the cycle is
entitled jl'ell Ilfales, and it is set in 1885 in the house of Jed Rowen. The
audience is introduced to Jed's daughter, Mary Anne, as she tells them
about how the land used to be before the coal came. The play then
shifts in time to when Mary Anne was an adolescent, when she met JT
Wells, a storyteller. She and he exchange pleasantries, and she invites
him back to her house when she discovers that he is looking for her
father. Mary Anne's boyfriend, Tommy Jackson, is jealous of JT and
goes back with them to the house. later, after supper JT entertains Jed,
and Iallie, his wife, Mary Anne and Tommy with several stories. After

he tells a derivative of the Romeo and Juliet story that insults Tommy,

 

 

65
Tommy gets upset and is sent home by Jed. JT then tells a variation of

the Baucis and Philomon story. Afterwards, he expresses his concern
for Jed and lallie's welfare, and offers to purchase the mineral rights to
their land from them. After it is explained to Jed that this is just "rock
removal," Jed signs the paper. He is also able to negotiate a substantial
increase in the amount of money offered to him by JT when he
discovers that they will be building a road and using his water. Still,
Jed agrees to sell the rights to his land for three hundred and fifty
seven dollars. Afterwards, Mary Anne agrees to take JT back to the
road. Along the way, Mary Anne attempts to seduce JT and get him to
take her with him. Tommy catches them together and attacks JT with a
knife. Mary Anne saves him by knocking Tommy unconscious with a
shovel. Ashamed of himself and at what he has done, JT tells Mary
Anne the truth about the deal that her father has struck with him and
tells her to tell her father to tear up his check. The play then returns to
the older Mary Anne, who reveals that her father was too stubborn to
destroy the check and then tells about how the land and mountains
were destroyed by the coming of the coal companies.

The seventh play in the series, entitled Fire in the Hole. explores life
in a stereotypical coal camp. Mary Anne has married Tommy, who has
become a miner for the Blue Star coal company. They have had four

children die on them, and their fifth is very sick when a stranger

 

66
appears on their doorstep, asking about spare lodging. At the same

time, a cave-in occurs where Tommy is working, and he barely
survives the collapse. The stranger, known as Abe, diagnoses the child
as sick with typhus, and tells Mary Anne to boil his water, and then
asks about lodging again. Mary Anne tentatively agrees, but says that
the final decision is up to her husband. He comes home, and after an
argument, agrees that Abe can stay as long as he can pay his own way.
Abe gets a job with the company on Tommy's recommendation, and
prepares to work with him. At the same time, their son, Joshua, gets
better and begins to hear Abe and Mary Anne exchange talks about the
condition of life in the camps. When asked if he is a union organizer by
Tommy, Abe agrees that he is. However, when he starts to talk about
the union to Tommy, Tommy shuts him off. Tommy also gets Joshua to
go down into the mines with him by faking a birth certificate and
taking it to Andrew Talbert Winston, the foreman of the mine. As
TOtnmy, Abe and Joshua end their lunch break, a loud explosion occurs.
Although none are killed in the coal bump, enough of their friends are
for them to listen to Abe's talk of unionization. They all go on strike,
leave their houses and set up tents in a hollow. The coal company tries
to drive them out with an armored train, but the miners refuse to be
intimidated and arrange to buy some guns from a black miner by the

n«'Elrne of Cassius Biggs. Mary Anne gives away the Rowen family watch

67
to allow them to purchase weapons. However, Tommy, fearing for his

life and his family, tells Winston of the location of the gun swap in
exchange for the safety of himself and his family. The gun exchange
goes horribly wrong and Abe is killed as Joshua watches. When the
men return to the camp, there is much talk of who betrayed the miners
to the company. Finally Joshua pulls the watch out of his father's vest
and describes what he saw. Mary Anne rejects Tommy, saying he "quit
on her," and she returns to her maiden name of Rowen as the miners
carry off Tommy. The final scene in the play has Mary Anne and the
other women leading the men in a charge to take over the mine. They
force Winston to give them cash wages and to recognize the union by
threatening to blow up his entire operation. He signs the paper and
Mary Anne ends the play with a thrilling scream of "Union!"
(Schenkkan 264).

The eighth play in the cycle is entitled Which Side are You On? , and
it examines the life of a middle aged Joshua Rowen. Joshua has become
an executive in the UMW, and spends his time in the county working
for the men. He and James Talbert Winston, along with Franklin Biggs,
have become the most powerful people in the county. The three of
them meet together whenever business forces them to, and their
backroom deals make the decisions for the county. Into this mixture

comes Scotty Rowen, Joshua's son, who has been fighting in Korea. He

68
has joined Joshua as a worker for the UMW, and is assigned a job as a

field representative. However, while Joshua has become pragmatic,
sacrificing things like safety to push deals through, Scotty is idealistic
and takes his job seriously. When the men approach him with
complaints, he gives them his full attention and tries to correct every
wrong. However, this puts him in conflict with his father, who is trying
to get a new contract approved that would result in a new round of
layoffs. Scotty gets angry at his father for asking him to rubber stamp
complaints, and, when he hears complaints about safety at Blue Star,
goes against his father's wishes to pull the men out. Soon after that,
there is a huge explosion from Blue Star. Although it was originally
believed to be a bomb blast, a mine guard confirms that it was a dust
explosion. Finally, as Franklin Biggs and James Winston arrive, it is
revealed that Scotty was down in the mine when it exploded. They
play ends with a reading of the list of the dead, with Scotty's name read
last.

The ninth and final play in the series is entitled The War on
Eovergt. It opens with two grave robbers unearthing a piece of Indian
buckskin. They are scared off by rifle fire from a sixty four year old
Joshua Rowen. He, James, and Franklin have come out to the mountains
to look over property that they are planning to sell for strip mining. As

they sit and rest, Josh, James and Franklin remember the good times

69
before Scotty was killed, and recount a litany of problems that

currently plague them. They, like their ancestors, have been forced
into bankruptcy and are trying to unload their remaining assets. Still,
Josh feels uncomfortable about the destruction of the mountains. He
and James get into an argument, and James walks away to cool off.
While there, he sees the piece of buckskin that the graverobbers
dropped. He pulls it out of the earth and the three of them unwrap it.
Inside is a dead Native American baby, perfectly preserved. While
James and Franklin argue about who "owns" the baby, Joshua suddenly
orders them to put her back in the earth. When James refuses, he
threatens him with his rifle, saying that "It makes a Difference!"
(Schenkkan 330) what they do with the baby. James backs off and
leaves, threatening to sell the land without Josh. Franklin also leaves,
promising Josh that he'd think about what was happening to the land.
Finally Josh is left alone on stage with the baby. He wraps her back in
the buckskin, and then covers her with his own jacket and lays her in
the earth. He also places the Rowan family watch next to her. As he
does so, the figures of all the characters who have fought over the land
come to life behind him and watch. These include Star, finally reunited
with her baby daughter, the Talbert family, Mary Anne and Tommy,
and finally Scotty, Josh's son. As this happens, a long wolf howl is

heard, and Josh turns to see a wolf on the mountain. He fires his rifle

70
in the air and shouts in exultation as the play ends.

IheKentnekyCyele is one of the most complete presentations of the
mountaineer's character and history seen on the contemporary
American stage. In it Schenkkan has, at one point or another,
incorporated all of Weller's basic mountaineer characteristics in the
Rowen family. These are mostly seen in the second half of the play, but
can also be detected throughout. In addition, the evolution of these
traits can be traced throughout the play.

One of the most obvious of Weller's mountaineer character traits in
jlfhe Kentueky Cycle is the people orientation of the mountaineers. Even
from the beginnings of the play, when Earl Tod invites Michael Rowen
to share his food, the hospitality and courtesy with which strangers are
treated is evident. From that first episode, this trait is seen again when
the circuit court judge and his men are given liquor and a place to sit
by Patrick Rowan in the fourth play. In addition to sharing the alcohol,
Mr. Grey, a bailiff, and Patrick swap stories about their adventures in
the War of 1812, and they have to be interrupted by the judge, who
says they could have shared stories all night. This tradition and
characteristic is also seen when JT Wells is given food and drink in
exchange for a story in Tall Tales. And the same type of hospitality and
courtesy is extended to Abe in Eheinnhefile. In each play, although

strangers are greeted with suspicion, they are also given good

71
treatment with nothing expected in return.

The people orientation of the mountaineers in Ihe_Kentneky_Cyele
also extends to how they treat each other within the community. This
is most clearly seen in W and Whieh Side ate Yen Qn?, the
seventh and eighth plays of the cycle. Here, the community has taken
on a life of its own, and people who violate the spirit of the community
are punished. In Fine in the Hole the person who violates the
community's wishes is Tommy, when he goes to Andrew and tells him
of the gun exchange and where it is taking place. Although Tommy was
acting to protect his life and the welfare of his family, he betrayed the
goals of the group. Mary Anne calls this action "quitting," and rejects
him and his name She says "I thought 'They can tear these mountains
apart, but Tommy Jackson won't quit on me'...And then you quit on me.
My name is Rowen. Mary Anne Rowen. I got one son, Joshua Rowen,
and this man is a stranger to me" (Schenkkan 260). Mary Anne rejects
Tommy because he has acted solely in his own interests and has failed
to take the other miners' needs into account. As a result of his betrayal
Tommy is dragged off and killed. In Which Side are You On. Josh
Rowen betrays the community because they looked to him, as leader of
the union, to provide for the safety of his men. When they were killed
by a problem that he said he had taken care of, the community of

mountaineers knew they had been betrayed. Joshua describes the

 

- .-..‘

m:tl

72
feelings of alienation and ostracism that he had after the explosion in

W. He says "I can't help thinkin' bout things...All
those women, all those widows and daughters, standing there in
black...lookin' right through me...Or Stucky handin' me Scotty's watch
and then walkin' away, not able to shake my hand or even look me in
the face" (Schenkkan 325). In both of these instances, one person has
placed his own personal needs above those of other people, something
that is anathema to the mountaineers. And in both cases, because they
violated the people orientation of the mountain communities where
they lived, they were severely punished. This aspect of the
mountaineer psyche is barley examined elsewhere, yet Schenkkan pays
a great deal of attention to it in flfhe Kentucky Cyele.

Another aspect of the mountaineer's character that Schenkkan deals
with is their strong belief in traditionalism. The way of doing things as
one's forefathers had done is deeply ingrained into the psyche of the
mountaineers. One of the advantages of creating a dramatic work that
stretches over two hundred years is that the audience can see where
these traditions come from. One example of this is the traditional
mountaineer outlook on land. To the mountaineers in The Kentncky
Cycm, land is a special thing that should be treasured. Michael Rowen
realizes this at the end of the first play. He says "'My Land.‘ Oh, there's

a grand sound to that, isn't there?" (Schenkkan 24). Patrick murders

73
his father for his land, and then defends himself in front of the judge

and Jeremiah when they try to take it away. He says "I ain't sellin this
land! I got family buried here... This land here...it's all I ever knowed.
All I ever wanted. I know...l know every foot of this place" (Schenkkan
103-111). Once a tradition has been established, such as this respect
for the land, Schenkkan follows it throughout the play. In the sixth
play, Iliall fljales, Iallie shares her reservations about Jed selling the
land. She says "This land been in your family back before anybody can
remember, and I don't think you ought to be sellin' it...even them
rocks" (Schenkkan 193). Finally, the modern version of this tradition is
seen in Joshua's refusal to allow the strip mining companies into the
mountains. The audience is able to see this traditional viewpoint
develop and be passed down through the generations because of the
epic nature of the play.

Another element dealt with in The Kentucky Cyele is the
mountaineer's fatalistic views. Although in the first night of plays the
Rowens do not appear fatalistic, they become so when their land is
stolen from them by the coal companies. This is shown in the seventh
play, Eire in the Hole. In this section, Mary Anne has lost her ancestral
home and her family's land. She describes this experience in the end of
jlfall Tales, the sixth play. She says "They came a couple of years later,

just like he said they would and they cut down all the trees, includin'

74
my oak. I was right about it holdin' up the sky, 'cause when they

chopped it down, everythin' fell in: moon 'n stars 'n all" (Schenkkan
206). In the beginning of Fire in the Hole, she describes how she lost
four children and has become fatalistic. In the opening monologue, she
says "We had five kids, five sons, and every rainy season for four years
the fever came and took one of my boys. He's the last, my Joshua. I sit
with him now as he burns and I do what ever grievin' mother has done
since the beginning of time: I lie" (Schenkkan 212). Although she
might hope otherwise, Mary Anne has resigned herself to the fact that
her son will join his brothers in death. Even when Abe Steinman, the
union organizer, comes by and tells her how to save her child, Mary
Anne is still resistant to change. She tells him that she doesn't believe
in truth anymore, saying "Truth? Hell, I may be nothing but a dumb
hillbilly, but even I know there ain't no such thing as truth" (Schenkkan
231). When asked how she makes it through the day, she replies
"Habit!" (Schenkkan 231). This is a clear example of the mountaineer's
fatalism. Mary Anne believes that she is incapable of changing her _
situation, and has learned to endure and suppress her hopes and
dreams in order to survive and keep her sanity intact. Tommy Jackson,
her husband, has also inured himself to his situation and accepted the
fact that he cannot change it. After a coal bump kills several of his

friends, Tommy simply replies "He's goin back, we're all goin' back. We

75
always go back!" (Schenkkan 243). Tommy's fatalism is so deeply

ingrained that, when the miners finally go on strike, he betrays his
community and asks for his job back and a return to the company life.
It isn't until Tommy betrays the community that Mary Anne forces
herself to change her situation. Joshua describes it as "rolling a rock
offa their hearts" (Schenkkan 262) when Mary Anne finally motivates
herself and the other miners to form a union and change their situation.
Mary Anne's fatalism is representative of the fatalistic attitudes of
many mountaineers who found themselves trapped in the coal camps.
Schenkkan has also incorporated the action seeking aspect of the
mountaineer's mentality into the characters in The Kentucky Cycle. The
action seeker in the mountaineer drives him to seek the exciting or
unexpected. In addition, this trait is used as a reason why the
mountaineer disdains scheduling or regimentation of any sort. This is
seen several times in The Kentucky Cycle. In fljall Tales, Jed and Lallie
Rowen think nothing of JT Wells unexpected visit, and welcome him
into their home. No appointments were made by either party. In fact,
when JT Wells runs into a young Mary Anne Rowen, he says "That'd be
a real pleasure, Miss Rowan. Fact of the matter is, I'm here to see your
daddy" (Schenkkan 178). Another aspect of the action seeking
personality of the mountaineer is seen in the way Tommy Jackson and

the other miners are willing to put themselves at risk in a dangerous

~-——

.. . .|.:D£ -‘w

76
profession. None of the miners even mention the danger of going into

the mines when they laid their demands out for the union. Still,
despite these examples, this is the one aspect of the mountaineer
persona that Schenkkan does not explore fully in IheKent_ue_ky_Cy_c_le.
One possible reason for this is that in order to see this aspect of the
mountaineer psyche, one has to observe him in everyday life and note
how the uncertainty in life doesn't faze him. However, there are few
portrayals of everyday life in flfhe Kentucky Cyele, as Schenkkan has
focussed on the turning points in the history of the Rowens.

Another element of the mountaineer's system of beliefs is the
mountaineer's relation to fear. Schenkkan explores this in 113
Kentuelty Cycle throughout the play. The mountaineer is often willing
to undertake perilous jobs or professions while being unable or
unwilling to take control over his fellow mountaineers. The
mountaineers in The Kentucky Cycle are not afraid to use violence or
face violence in order to get what they want. In addition, the
characters in The Kentucky Cycle are willing to place themselves in
perilous situations to improve the lives of their fellow men. This is
seen in the fifth, seventh and eighth plays of the cycle. In God's Creat
Snpm, the fifth play, Jed Rowen is unswayingly calm and collected in
the middle of a battle where the rebels are significantly outnumbered.

He saves Richard Talbert's life when he is injured in battle, and helps

 

77
him out of the battlefield towards an escape. In addition, when

Quantrill's threatens to get his men killed, Jed takes several of the men
and leads them to safety. In Which Side ate yeu On, the eight play,
Scotty Rowen also acts bravely to save his fellow miners. Although he
is defying his father and the union management, Scotty goes down into
an unsafe mine in order to lead the men out. Although there would be
terrible repercussions, Scotty does what he feels is vital to the safety
and health of the miners.

The mountaineer's relationship to fear is fully explored, moreover,
in the seventh play, EireJtLtheHele. For here, in addition to showing
the bravery and courage exhibited by the mountaineer when faced
with disaster, Schenkkan also shows the reticence and fear the
mountaineer has about changing his situation. Fire in the Hole has two
major cave-ins in the mines, and both times the miners, particularly
Tommy Jackson, respond by staying in the unsafe areas and trying to
rescue their fellow workers. At the beginning of this section, when
Tommy and Mackie are working a seam, Mackie nerves snap and he
runs down the gallery. Although the explosives planted minutes before
are about to explode, Tommy leaps up to run after him. Only the fact
that another miner pulls him down saves Tommy's life. When the
explosion causes a slate fall, Tommy immediately takes command,

saying "I need some tools here, dammit! Get a doctor! You two get

78 ,
some timbers and start shorin' this line up 'fore we all get killed!"

(Schenkkan 214). Even though the situation is still dangerous, Tommy
remains where he is trying to free his trapped friend. Even when
ordered out of the gallery by the mine owner, Tommy works so hard
to free Mackie that he has to be practically dragged away from the
scene of the accident. Yet strangely enough, this certainty, courage and
leadership in the face of disaster does not translate into leadership in
Tommy's daily life. He refuses to confront the injustices of life in the
coal camps when they are pointed out to him by Abe. When Abe starts
to bring up the idea of unionization, Tommy cuts him off, saying "Don't
say nothin'. Don't tell me nothin'. I don't wanna know" (Schenkkan
223). later, after a coal bump that kills several of Tommy's friends,
Abe pushes the issue, and Tommy responds, angrily, saying "You son of
a bitch! What do you know? You ain't from around here! You don't
know nothin' about here! Leave me alone!" (Schenkkan 245).
Tommy's refusal of Abe does not stem from any ideological grounds,
rather, it stems from Tommy's fear of the uncertainty that would come
into his life with a union. The mountaineer has traditionally been able
to sustain himself in a terrible lifestyle because he has believed that
whatever the situation he was in, it could always be worse (Weller 37).
The uncertainty of the mountaineer's life has lead him to be courageous

when confronted with disasters, yet it has also made him incapable to

79
change his life outside of those rare occasions when he is forced to.

This is clearly seen in the character of Tommy Jackson in Fire in the
Hale.

Schenkkan has also incorporated the mountaineer's individualism
into jljhe Kentueky Cyele. This trait has been an important force in the
history of the mountains, and, because of this, it plays a prominent part
of the characters in Kentucky Cycle. In almost all nine of the plays, one
can find some traces of individualistic thinking. This type of thinking
mixes a strong sense of independence with personal gain in order to
improve the life of the mountaineer. In the first two plays, Michael
Rowen kills an entire tribe of Cherokee Indians in order to secure land
for himself. He then kidnaps a Cherokee to be his bride so that he can
have children who will carry on his legacy. With these actions, Michael
Rowan is not only asserting independence, but is also being very
individualistic. In the third play, Patrick kills his father when it
becomes apparent that he will no longer inherit the family land. With
the fourth play, the Rowan family indebted to Jeremiah Talbert, first
plans to attack the circuit court if necessary, and then pleads with him
to be allowed to stay on the land and work for him. The fifth play,
however, shows the Rowans at their most individualistic. When Jed
returns from the war, having killed Richard Talbert, he no longer wants

to fight. His father, Ezekial, reminds him of why they fight, saying "I

80
just this mornin' laid my daddy in the cold ground, his back bent and

heart broke by them people, and you stand there and you tell me 'they
ain't got nothin' we need'! They breathin' our air, ain't they?! They
walkin on our land, ain't they?!" (Schenkkan 157). In order for the
Rowens to assert the individualism, the entire Talbert family is killed
with the exception of two young girls. The Rowen family needed to do
this to assure their family of prosperity for future generations, and
thought nothing of the consequences of their actions.

These individualistic traits also continue in the second half of The
Kentueky Cyele. Jed Rowen sells the mineral rights to his land so that
he and his wife would have something to fall back on. In Fine in the
He_Ie, the seventh play, Tommy Jackson betrays his entire community
and asks for their jobs back. He does this not out of maliciousness, but
out of the individualistic belief that he has a right to help and support
himself and his family. When confronted with what he has done by the
miners, Jackson defends his action by saying "I gotta right to protect
my family. Cain't nobody tell me different" (Schenkkan 259). Tommy's
assertion that a man's first responsibility is to his family is noble, even
though it is misguided. He believes that that is the only responsibility
that a man has, and otherwise a man is independent of the community
in which he lives. Because of this belief he has no problems making a

deal with Andrew behind everyone's back. This is a clear example of

the

p01
pr<
gri

inc

81
the mountaineer's individualistic philosophy.

This philosophy continues with the rise of Joshua Rowen to a
position of power in the eighth play. Joshua is more concerned with
promoting himself and the union than listening to the problems and
grievances brought before him. In the end he pays the price for his
individualism as his son is killed in a mine he knew was unsafe.
Joshua, because of his powerful position, could have had the mine shut
down and cleaned out. However, because he was fixated on
maintaining his power and keeping his agreements with James
Winston, he let the mine operate even though he knew it was unsafe.
This is a clear example of individualism, as Joshua placed his own
desires for power above the needs of the community. Even in the final
play of the cycle, both James Talbert Winston and Franklin Biggs almost
come to blows over who has the right to the body of the dead Cherokee
baby. They both want possession of her so that they can sell her and
make money. However, Joshua, having learned about the folly of
individualistic thinking, breaks up the discussion and returns her to her
place in the earth. ‘

It is clear that Robert Schenkkan has incorporated all of these
elements in the characters in The Kentucky Cycle. He studied the
people and the landscape of Kentucky while crafting this work and the

result shows in the accurate portrayal of the mountaineer character.

82
However, there are still a few problems with the piece in regards to the

mountaineer's views. In the final play, Joshua breaks away from the
standard mountain psyche when he demands that they look over the
land that is to be strip mined. In addition, he is not resigned to selling
the land to the strip mine company as many mountaineers would be.
However, although this is a break in the mountaineer's belief in
fatalism, it is acceptable because of the love and strong attachment that
the Rowen family has always held for the land. When he forces
Franklin and James to put down the baby, he can only defend his
actions by saying "It makes a difference" (Schenkkan 330). Perhaps, in
some metaphysical way, Joshua Rowan feels the psychic connection his
family has held with this land, and knows he cannot desecrate it by
letting Morning Star's daughter be removed. Perhaps, in this segment,
Joshua is speaking for those mountaineers who are just now
discovering the tremendous resource that they have lived on all their

lives.

Chapter 4

Conclusions

A. Summary

The mountaineer has been a part of the United States' cultural
heritage since the founding of the country. His experiences have
embraced such national issues as labor versus management, rural
versus urban, and upper versus lower class citizens. The mountaineer,
as a result of his history and geography, has evolved several stock
characteristics which now define his persona. Jack Weller, an American
sociologist, defined those elements which were a part of the archetypal
mountaineer. These include traditionalism, fatalism, action-seeking,
people orientation, a unique relationship with fear and a strong sense
of individualism. These are the characteristics which have made the
archetypal mountaineer the unique American icon that he is. He has
been a figure of America mythology, literature, and music. Yet
surprisingly, there have only been a few plays that have mountaineers
as central characters. These works include Dark of the Moon, the Sand
Mountain series, Tennessee, and The Kentucky Cycle. Each of these
plays has a mountaineer character in a central role, and each
incorporates several of the stock mountaineer characteristics into that

role. Yet only The Kentucky Cycle has fully developed mountaineer

83

' Is I.“—

84
characters which incorporate all of Weller's stock elements. The

complete and accurate portrayal of the mountaineer on stage is more of

an exception than the rule, and only happens in selected plays.

B. Conclusions

Aside from flfhe Kentucky Cycle, there are very few plays that
portray the mountaineer accurately. Plays such as Dark of the Moon

and Ihe_SQd_Mennt_a_in_S_e_[ies are mere adaptations of old mountain
stories or ballads, and the mountaineer characters in them are
stereotypical and one dimensional. The mountain characters in these
plays are trapped in the "Jed Clampett/Snuffy Smith" misconception of
the mountaineer. The full range of the mountaineer's basic archetypal
character traits has yet to be fully explored on stage in one character.
In Dank ef the Moon, the primary characters, John and Barbara, are
both too alien and different from the mountain society that they are a
part of. Both of them have dreams and want to change their lives for
the better. More importantly, both John and Barbara are willing to risk
everything the have, including their lives, for a chance at a better life.
In contrast, the mountain characters in the play continue their daily
routines, accepting with resignation the lives that they have. The
mountaineers in this play are seen as laconic and average, and are not
portrayed as being in any way heroic or dynamic.

The same view of the mountaineer extends to Linney's plays that
are set in the mountains. Linney also plays heavily on the

mountaineer's fatalism, never showing them trying to change their

85

 

p:

31

86
lives for the better. The Old Woman in fl'ennessee accepts her fate, just

as the three mountaineer suitors in Send Modntain MatchmeMng
believe that Rebecca will eventually break down and choose one of
them. Again, with these characters, the mountaineer is not seen as a
fully developed dramatic character, but is viewed as one dimensional
and seen in a generally negative or pathetic light. Again, in these plays
the characters with ambition and uniqueness are those from slightly
outside traditional mountaineer society, such as Rebecca and Sam in
Matehmaking. These two characters, although they live in the
mountains, have very few of the characteristics of the traditional
mountaineer. Instead they are presented as independent, interesting,
and vibrant characters who are willing to take chances in life. In the
plays of Romulus Linney the mountaineer characters are not developed
beyond a stereotypical portrayal.

flfhe Kentucky Cycle portrays the mountaineer most completely,
incorporating all of Weller's basic characteristics. However, it take
Robert Schenkkan some three hundred years and six generations of
mountaineers to show all of these traits. There is no one single
mountaineer character in The Kentucky Cycle who is fully portrayed
and fleshed out. Schenkkan's mountaineers are not particularly heroic
people either. There are some instances of them taking heroic stands,

such as Mary Anne's fight for unionization, or Joshua's defense of the

87
dead baby, these are exceptional. For the most part, The Kentucky Cycle

shows the Rowen family lying, fighting and killing in order to gain an
advantage over the rest of their world. When they fail and are trapped
in a coal camp, its takes a betrayal by one member of the family and
the death of several friends before Mary Anne is finally motivated to
act. The actions of the Rowen family are not seen as particularly heroic,
and Schenkkan's portrayal of these mountaineers, while accurate, is
also extremely unflattering.

The mountaineer has not been shown to be a heroic and noble
figure in dramatic literature. The much vaunted independence of the
mountaineer is really greedy and manipulative individualism, where
the mountaineer is willing to sacrifice his community in order to get
ahead in life. The mountaineer is not portrayed as the Daniel
Boone/ Davy Crockett explorer/frontiersman of American mythology,
but is instead seen as the drunken backwoodsman of such cartoons and
stereotypes as "Snuffy Smith." In addition, relatively little credit is
given to the mountaineer for those things which he has established and
for those acts which require bravery and skill. The mountaineer has
made a living in what was sometimes extremely inhospitable land, and
has given this nation much of its fuel through his mining skills. He is
hospitable to a fault and open and honest in his dealings. The

mountaineer has carved out his own culture in the mountains, creating

88
his own musical styles, dances, folklore, art, and other forms of artistic

expression. Yet none of this has been explored by American
playwrights. Because these facets on the mountaineer's life and culture
have yet to be examined in contemporary dramatic literature, it can be
said that the mountaineer has yet to be fully and accurately presented
in American drama.

There are several reasons why there is this lack of verisimilitude in
the plays dealing with this American icon. The first is that the
mountaineer has always been isolationist and, for the greater part of
two hundred years, has been ignored by the country at large. This has
begun to change slowly since the 19605, when the mountains and their
people were "re-discovered" by the nation as a result of Lyndon
Johnson's "War on Poverty." Yet for most of the nation, exposure to
mountain culture came in the form of jokes or in television productions
such as fljhe Bevetly Hillbillies. With the influx of television, radio, and
highways into the mountains, the true stories and people of the
Southern Appalachians are beginning to be known. As more of these
stories and people become known, more plays will be written about
them.

However, this influx of outside influences, while having a positive
effect by bringing the mountaineer into the twentieth century, is also

causing the mountaineer to lose his unique identity. Jack Weller writes

89
"One of my co-workers says, with some truth, that TV has done more to

change the ideas of mountain people in ten years than the church has
done in generations" (Weller 57). As the mountaineer witnesses more
of the country, and vice versa, that unique geographical sense of
isolation that has given the mountaineer many of his identifiable and
unique character traits is disappearing. Therefore the question is
whether playwrights and authors will take note of the mountain
culture before the last elements of it disappear under the influence of
twentieth century media.

Still, the primary reason that the mountaineer has never been
developed as a major dramatic American character is his isolation.
Unlike traditional American rural icons: the farmer, the cowboy and the
49er, the mountaineer has never affected his own destiny. He has
continually been pushed and manipulated by people from outside his
geographical region who do not share his purview. The greatest
changes in the history of the mountains have not come from the
mountaineers or from natural intervention, but have instead been the
result of interference from outsiders. The Civil War, the removal of the
old growth forests, the coming of the eastern coal companies and the
push for unionization are the historical events that have changed the
mountains and their people. Yet none of these events was incited by

mountaineers. In every case, the mountaineer was manipulated and

his c
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90
his destiny was controlled by someone else. This is not an inherently

dramatic trait, and, while the mountaineer's situation is tragic, it is not
a tragedy. The mountaineer, because he has never controlled his own
destiny, is not a heroic figure, and therefore is not inherently dramatic.

As the mountain culture becomes increasingly assimilated into
mainstream society, the mountaineer's purview will change to match
that. However, at least one more generation will still be able to call
themselves mountaineers, and their stories and the stories of their
relatives will hopefully be put in the theaters. For the mountaineer is
too important an American icon to lose and/ or ignore. Although there
hasn't been a completely accurate portrayal of the mountaineer in
dramatic literature yet, one can hope that this unique American icon
will become a part of the American literary dramatic canon, and that

the mountaineer character will be fully realized on the American stage.

C. Areas of Further Study

This study could be expanded to examine the portrayals of the
mountaineer in other art forms, such as dance, music, and the visual
arts, and compare those portrayals both to Weller and Caudill and to
theatrical presentations. In addition, more research could be done into
the incorporation of the mountaineer's "mythology" and superstitions
into plays. The role of the storyteller and the oral tradition of the
mountains could also be explored. Interviews could be held with the
artistic directors and dramaturgs of the regional theaters throughout
the Appalachians to gain their opinions on the portrayal of the
mountaineer in drama. Another way that this study could be expanded
is through a comparison of the folk art forms of the mountains, such as
dance, music and storytelling, and the incorporation of these art forms
into the mainstream performing arts. The mountaineer has been the
subject of many dances and songs, and that study would invariably be

extensive.

91

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B' io

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Ergood, Bruce, and Kuhre, Bruce, ed. Appalachia: Social Context Past
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